Publix

Commercial building permits filed last week in Sarasota County indicate the grocer at the southwest corner of Bee Ridge Road and Cattlemen Road is slated for $475,000 worth of improvements. Documents call for the replacement and modification of finishes, fixtures and store equipment.

That shopping center is also home to Bealls Outlet, Tile Outlets of America – Sarasota, Domino’s Pizza and Panera Bread, among other tenants. Sports Authority, which shuttered stores nationwide mid-last year, was once at the southeast portion of that center.

It’s been two years since rumors first surfaced about Publix moving into the former Southbay Shopping Center, and plans finally seem to be moving forward.

Permits for utilities work at the south end of the Osprey shopping hub were filed on Monday. The application, which is pending approval by the county, calls for water lines, fire lines and wastewater gravity lines for a Publix just south of the intersection of U.S. 41 and Blackburn Point Road.

The documents really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve had a number of Osprey readers ask about that site in the 10 days since I wrote a column on improvements the shopping center’s owner, Benderson Development Co., has made to another shopping center it owns, The Landings.

The Manatee County-based company bought the struggling The Landings shopping center about 8 miles north of Southbay this year and has already started splashing new paint on the south end of that plaza and has secured two relatively popular restaurant tenants. Locally owned daytime café Station 400 and Teppan-style, Florida-based Japanese cuisine chain DaRuMa are both slated to move into The Landings. The commercial retail development giant managed to make those kinds of changes in about three months.

Benderson bought the old Southbay plaza, which it’s since renamed the Shops at Casey Key, in 2012 and renovated the north end of the property not long after completing that deal. Today, a new Ace Hardware is preparing to open its doors on the north strip where Norma Jean’s Sports Bar and Grill, Dollar Tree, Richard’s Foodporium and several other tenants already are. Benderson officials told me in October that a new grocery store would open on the south end sometime this year.

That side of the plaza, however, remains largely untouched, leaving several readers wanting to know — what’s the holdup?

One wrote: “It is literally falling apart and has been an eyesore for quite some time. Also the roof seems to have holes and birds fly in and out.”

And another: “The improvement in underperforming shopping centers/malls is progressing south down the Trail, much thanks to The Benderson Group. Do we just have to wait our turn?”

I reached out to Benderson officials late last week, looking for an update on the project. But until I hear back from them, I really can’t tell you anything about the timeline or what’s taking so long.

What I can tell you is that an application for utilities work is a good sign that plans are moving forward. There’s finally something in public documents to solidify the Publix rumors that my What’s In Store predecessor first reported two years ago in April.

That splintered-looking exterior and the busted-up flower beds at that site will likely be on their way out and a shiny new grocer that matches the sleek north end of the shopping center will be on its way in.

And while I hate to tell a community that’s waited two years that it’s likely only a matter of time, that’s still all I can say for now.

Quite a bit has to happen between that utility work and those first shopping trips through the checkout.

Shipt, an online grocery delivering company, is expanding its services in Sarasota to include Costco Wholesale.

The company, which entered Sarasota with its Publix service in October 2015, now serves more than 20 million households in 40 markets throughout the country. Shipt connects members with its professional shoppers, who hand pick their items and deliver them as soon as an hour after the order is placed. The service offers unlimited grocery deliveries to members for $99 per year.

The company this month also is expanding its delivery options in Tallahassee, Gainesville, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Orlando, Fort Myers and Naples.

A new online service that delivers groceries from a variety of stores is launching on Thursday in Southwest Florida.

San Francisco-based Instacart memberships offer unlimited same day, one-hour deliveries for $99 a year, or $14.99 per month to stores such as ABC, Publix, Whole Foods Market, Costco and Petco. Shoppers beginning on Thursday can order groceries online and have them delivered to their doorstep at a scheduled time.

The company’s Southwest Florida service area will cover 299,000 residents in the including the Sarasota, Bradenton, North Port, Longboat Key, Parrish, Holmes Beach and Palmetto markets.

Instacart will add more than 30 new jobs to the region.

The company joins a few other online grocery services in the area.

Shipt, which delivers Publix groceries but is not affiliated with the company, launched in Sarasota in late 2015.

Walmart kicked off its online grocery pick-up at select Southwest Florida stores in August. The free service allows customers to order their groceries online and then pick them up at stores without leaving their cars.

This time next year, Sarasota will have just about everything it could ever want as far as grocery stores go.

But not everyone in Southwest Florida will feel that way. There’s still a huge void. It’s just not in Sarasota.

The upcoming Sprouts Farmers Market in Pelican Plaza and the Lucky’s Market coming to Westfield Southgate have kept me busy in recent months. Whole Foods Market, which has been downtown for more than a decade, is putting a second location at the southwest corner of Honore Avenue and University Parkway. Meanwhile, there’s a Fresh Market that’s not too far from that site and a Trader Joe’s on the south end of town where it’s that’s been hard to find a parking spot since it opened in 2012.

Sarasotans have got their pick of boutique grocery stores, but that’s not the case in the rest of the county.

I had a voicemail waiting for me when I got into the newsroom on Thursday morning. I’d written a column the day before announcing the April 12 grand opening date for Sprouts in Pelican Plaza, on U.S. 41 across from Westfield Sarasota Square.

The caller lived in Venice, and she said she’s got her choice of Publix stores but that’s about it. The community also has a Detwiler’s Farm Market, a few Winn-Dixies and a Richard’s Foodporium, but nothing quite like the Lucky’s and Sprouts stores that are cropping up just a little farther north.

South Sarasota County is growing. Thousands of homes are being built in Venice and farther south. So, our reader wanted to know, what’s the holdup? Why weren’t these grocers looking past Sarasota yet?

Venice has a collection of strip malls but it doesn’t really have a dominant retail center, said Stan Rutstein, a commercial real estate broker in Manatee County. These boutique grocers don’t want to move into outdated and struggling shopping centers that have more blank spaces than tenants. Players such as Sprouts and Lucky’s look for locations that already are shopping hubs.

Venice will need something with the feel and the density of Lakewood Ranch or even similar to Cocoplum Village Shops in North Port, Rutstein said, for it to attract these new organic grocery chains.

Right now, Venice is seeing droves of new subdivisions but still lacks the right retail space to match that growth.

But that doesn’t mean these stores aren’t coming to South County, said Barry Seidel, president of American Property Group of Sarasota Inc., Sarasota is slowly invading the Nokomis, Osprey and even the Venice area. It won’t be long until those towns are just thought of as part of the larger northern community. The Sarasota Sprouts technically falls in Vamo’s borders, but that’s not how Southwest Florida really thinks of that spot. Neither does Sprouts. Every announcement we’ve seen from the company has said the grocer is coming to South Sarasota.

Five years ago, Sprouts wouldn’t have even considered a move to Pelican Plaza, Seidel said. But Manatee County-based Benderson Development Co. bought the defunct shopping center in 2012 and slowly turned a retail graveyard into an attraction.

With the housing boom in Venice, we’re bound to see something similar happen there, too, but it will take time. Rutstein said he expects the community will need another three or five years of growth.

Our little corner of Southwest Florida is accustomed to waiting.

Organic grocers such as Lucky’s and Earth Fare have been planting “Coming Soon” signs throughout the Sunshine State for the past few years. Our market is rarely a place for firsts. Typically, retailers wait to set up shop here until they’ve moved into the Tampa or Orlando areas. Sarasota is a good spot for fifths and sixths. Venice isn’t even on the list yet. Retailers are aware of Venice but it’s just not the attraction Sarasota is.

There are exceptions to this, though. We’ve already seen it with Sprouts. That Pelican Plaza store will be the second in the state, and it’s slated to open just two months after the first one launches in Hillsborough County.

We’re inching our way up the priority list. Retailers are excited about Southwest Florida – so much so that they’re saturating our market. Lucky’s, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Fresh Market already have plans or roots here. Another boutique-style grocer is expected to move into the Siesta Promenade development at U.S. 41 and Stickney Point Road. Earth Fare is eyeing a spot in Lakewood Ranch.

No wonder Vamo, just south of all that competition, looked attractive.